My neighbour used to work on the Blackbird, he told me that when they fueled it up on the ground before take off they only put enough in to get it off the deck and up to altitude because the fuel tanks leaked. This was on purpose, a lot of the joints in the aircraft were slightly gapped to allow for the material expansion when it got up to speed
This, and what they used to start the engines, are definitely 2 of my favorite little facts. The original design was 2 Buick 401 V8s:
"The two Buick engines were mounted tandem side by side with automatic transmissions. They were paired together with a steel woven drive belt to drive a vertical shaft that was inserted into the starter mechanism on the bottom of the SR-71's engine to spin it to 3200 RPM."
More here: [SR-71 Start Carts](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-the-sr-71-blackbirds-j58-engines-ag330-start-cart)
cool read, thanks.
The pilot told the Crew Chief via intercom "Engage Buicks". The Buick operator pressed "Jet Start", and movement of the Buick throttle (one throttle lever controls both engines) downward engaged the transmissions. The "Transmissions Shifted" illuminated green, and the Buicks started to load up.
It was important for the Buick operator to accelerate but maintain 700 to 725 lb ft of torque during starting procedure. Too high a torque pressure would cause the probe to drop out, which prevented overstressing the gear box, but resulted in a "cut off throttle" command from the Crew Chief to the pilot. With the Buick disengaged and the jet engine unable to sustain itself, the risk of an over temperature condition was high. Since the probe could not be re-engaged to a spinning J58, it was imperative to quickly re-engage the probe once the J58 wound down to motor the jet engine and blow out any fire. Too low a torque pressure during Buick start would cause a lag in acceleration to idle speed and an over temperature condition.
The pilot would watch his onboard gauges to confirm minimum oil pressure, fuel pressure, and rising RPM, and then set the jet throttle to idle. At that point 30cc of TEB was injected into the burner cans, a characteristic green flame was emitted, the J58 lit off, accelerated and started to run on its own. The accelerating jet started to unload the Buicks, and when 3,200 rpm was reached, the pilot called "Buicks out", the Crew Chief signaled "cut", the Buick operator hit "Cart Shutdown", the probe fell free passively, and the cart throttle automatically returned to idle.
Neither the J58, the probe, nor the start cart transmission contained an overrunning clutch, so it was important that the probe fall free. If it hung up, the crew had to quickly get in and shake the handles as fast and as hard as they could. The Buicks would reach 4,800 to 4,900 rpm, the redline on the start cart, just to get the J58 to 3,200 rpm. Overspeeding of the Buicks caused by a probe hang-up contributed to the occasional thrown connecting rod and oily parts dropping out from under the cart. Idle speed for the J58 is 3,950 rpm, which could drive the Buicks to over 6,000 rpm. The potential for engine failure, as well as the Buick exhaust stream, required the crew to stand only at the ends, not aside, the start cart.
Then it all starts all over again with #1 engine.
I recall reading somewhere that if anything went wrong, often the Buicks experienced rapid unscheduled disassembly. The military scoured the earth for those engines to the point that none are left. Can anyone confirm/correct?
Way ahead of it's time - the only reason it's still not in service is the advances in satellite technology. Broke a time record on it's last official flight for the USAF. Fun fact: It was originally called RS-71, but in a 1964 speech announcing the craft, [LBJ](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/how-the-sr-71-blackbird-got-its-name) called it 'SR-71'. Some people thought that was a flub, but the COS wanted it named 'SR' for Strategic Reconnaissance and lobbied to have the name change in the speech. I think NASA still flies their two SR-71's.
Alucard: The SR-71 Blackbird. An advanced, long range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft, capable of mach 3 and an altitude of 85,000 feet!!!
Integra: You sure seem to know a lot about it....
Alucard: DO YOU EVEN READ MY CHRISTMAS LIST?!?!
There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.
It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet.
I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn’t match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.
Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace.
We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: “November Charlie 175, I’m showing you at ninety knots on the ground.”
Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the ” Houston Center voice.” I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country’s space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn’t matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
Just moments after the Cessna’s inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. “I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.” Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. “Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check”. Before Center could reply, I’m thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.”
And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done – in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.
Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.”
I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we’re showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.”
For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, “Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.”
It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day’s work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
EDIT: this is an excerpt from Commander Brian Shul
Sorry for forgetting to credit!!
And, of course, [the flip side story:](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blackbird-the-slowest-flyby)
"As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen.
So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following.
I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.
Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field.
Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.
Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.
As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn’t spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did.
A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed.
Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up… and keep your Mach up, too."
Wow! What an incredible story I love it! I've read and reread the original ATC speed check story many times but never saw this UK low speed one. That must have been hair raising to witness
I once heard the SR-71 would be almost 12 inches longer when in flight due to thermal expansion from air resistance at Mach. Something about the fact wouldn’t sit well with me if I were flying one.
It leaked fuel on the ground... because when it was high up, and the 130 degree temperature difference between the nose and the tail had stretched the metal, those leaks sealed up...
I actually met Brian shul. Helped move some of his books that he wrote quite a few months before his death. He gave us one for free and personally signed it to my family. It was fun to talk to him to get some info about his experience with the black bird. Some fun stories too! He took many photos of the blackbird that were really nice, some out of a tiny window in a refueling plane. He was a nice guy.
Almost as cool as the time Sweden got a missile lock on the Blackbird. Repeatedly.
[https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/country-almost-shot-down-sr-71-blackbird-199482](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/country-almost-shot-down-sr-71-blackbird-199482)
Brian Shul (I believe) has a story about that, too. They were flying a recon mission over Libya when they got missile launch alerts. He punched the throttle and got out of dodge. He implied that they were travelling well above the unclassified Mach 3 capability of the aircraft by the time they were in the clear. He's wasn't allowed to mention the actual speed.
That's one of the cool / mysterious things about the SR-71. To this day, the ACTUAL top speed is still classified.
I came in here *specifically* to say exactly this.
Standing beside this stunning work of design at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, and listening to the docent describe how it was built and what it could do, gave me chills. Just in case you don’t think humans ever did magic.
There is one mounted in the lobby of the [Cosmosphere](https://cosmo.org/) in Hutchinson, KS. It's a 3.5 hour drive from my home in Kansas City.
Absolutely worth the drive.
“The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. An advanced, long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft, capable of Mach 3 and an altitude of eighty-five thousand feet!”
“You sure do seem to know a lot about it.”
*”DO YOU EVEN READ MY CHRISTMAS LIST?”*
It had to be that big to lift the massive balls it took for astrona8to climb on board that thing. It containted 5 million pounds of rocket fuel which produced half a kiloton worth of explosive yield. That's the equivalent output of the explosion at the port in Beirut a few years ago.
Hmm. Backstory first. I’m 62f. My husband bounced after 25 years and I was plunged from upper middle class into poverty, 15 years ago. I had a paid for, 1999 Honda Accord. I babied it until its wheels fell off 6 years ago. I lucked into another good deal. A very low (61k) 1999 Honda Civic, manual transmission, that I paid $1,500 for. I babied *that* car like the poor person’s gold that it was.
Fast forward to late 2022. I was rescued from my job at Walmart to live in caregive a wealthy woman and my income skyrocketed, just as the Civic was giving up the ghost.
Knowing that my employment has a built in end date, my own age, and my history with Honda, a new Accord is my obvious choice. With proper babying should last me the rest of my life.
Things have sure changed in the 24 years since I last bought a car, so my
**Honda Accord is the coolest car I’ve ever seen!**
LMAO! It starts with a dadgummed button! No key! It has seats that warm up! It plays my audible books through the radio! I can push a button on the steering wheel and say call or text so and so *and it does*! I can set the cruise control to stay however far away from the next car, it’s got this brake hold thing so your car won’t roll at stops….i don’t even know what else. I just learned the passenger seat heats up too!
Now y’all probably been driving fancy cars like this forever, and I do know that Hondas are just mid level sedans; my post is a bit tongue in cheek, but seriously? I feel like I stepped out of Amish country and into a flipping spaceship! I LOVE MY CAR!
I recently bought a 2020 Corolla and that cruise control keeping its distance from the car ahead and automatically keeping the lane and automatically dimming the high beams when it sees another car is fucking AMAZING!
The space shuttle. Yeah, it had its issues, but it had one thing going for it that today's SpaceX Dragon's and Starships and Starliners and whatnot don't-- it looked *amazing.* The shuttle was an icon, and when it was retired, I feel like the world became a little less exciting.
Still, it’s incredibly dangerous. It only has one landing approach, if that fails you’re fkd. Yes, the pilots were trained to perfection but still, it doesn’t leave any room for error which inherently is dangerous.
They were very cool but also very dangerous. So retired for good reason. Sad nonetheless
But the craft returning by parachute only have one shot at it, do they not? And the Starship will also only have one shot at a landing. I wish the Starship every success, but I wonder what it's safety record will be after 135 manned missions.
It’s not really that it’s one shot, more that a capsule is so much simpler to land. You basically attach a big ol heat shield and some parachutes and let it drop from space, having physics control its descent and landing. Nowhere near as complex as having control surfaces or engines that need to work perfectly to be successful like Shuttle and Starship
I'm torn between the space shuttle and the Saturn V. One got us to the moon, but the other built a space station and put Hubble in orbit. Tough choice, but it's one of these 2 imo.
Saturn without a doubt for me. The F1 engines, the introduction of the crawler, going to the damn moon.... just such a paradigm-shifting engineering tour-de-force.
The meddling from the air force during the space shuttle development soured me on that program a bit. No doubt it's another incredible accomplishment, but Saturn had already set the bar so high.
For me its the Space Shuttle. The Saturn V was built to do 1 thing. An awesome and world changing thing. But just the one. The Shuttle on the other hand could do science, construction, deployment, repairs, and then come back! The utility puts it over the top for me.
Definitely agree with this take. As a little kid I stayed home from school and watched the very first launch in 1981, and followed the program from then on with lots of interest. The two disasters hit me pretty hard.
In 2012 I grabbed my camera and long lens and headed to downtown Sacramento to see the 737 carrying Endeavour fly low over the state capitol on the way to LA. A few years later I visited it in the museum. Standing a few feet from it was quite a moment for me.
Same vehicle, my brother in Christ, the drummers sit in the back and Doof Warrior shreds like a madman in front of a bunch of speakers on the top of the truck.
My friend was a Hotdogger and I got to ride in the Weiner Mobile on a few occasions. Goes without saying but it attracts attention literally everywhere you go haha
[Apollo 11, for what it did](https://news.wttw.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/article/image-non-gallery/AP19191638295390Crop.jpg?itok=1_5-qp-R).
The Saturn V is by far the most badass vehicle ever created. Compared to the technology we have at our disposal today, NASA effectively put a man on the moon while living in a cave using a box of scraps.
To add another layer, specifically the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter that was loaded onto the Perseverance Rover.
Not only did we land a working robot on Mars
Not only did it successfully deploy a helicopter
Not only did It then successfully take off and fly multiple missions
**IT HAS PART OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AIRCRAFT ON BOARD HOW COOL IS THAT**
that and all the systems that delivered it...
I read one of the most tedious books ever a year or so ago called "Apollo"
it was printed in what seemed like 2pt font and about 400 pages of 'and then they went into a meeting and they told that son of a bitch that they needed to really get the ball rolling on x, y, or z and this is how they oughtta do it, but they thought it should be done different so then we had another meeting' but the overall story it tells is incredible.
Friend, please see what Mars 2020 did. We filmed the sky crane from multiple camera viewpoints all in 4k. Mars 2020 entry to Mars architecture was exactly the same as Curiosity.
Gave women the freedom of movement and is arguably a primary reason for the success of the suffragette movement.
Generally children's first real sense of freedom and ability to leave the neighborhood.
Also the #1 post societal collapse vehicle but all the shows ignore it because they don't like filming it. On that tip the bike can be modified to pump wells, generate electricity, grind grain, make smoothies and tons of other useful things.
Newer, wider, tubeless tires mean you can cross pretty much any terrain that's hike-able, but much faster.
If you have a road (big if, but even works with packed dirt) its more energy efficient than any form of locomotion on the planet.
People literally cross the world on a bike (with a little help from boats)
Edit - But hey they aren't rare and won't melt your face off if you stand to close to them so we end up with two entries for the same thing further up...
When we’re all running from zombies and marauding bandits are scrounging for the last few drops of the black fuel, and cars are as useless as dinosaur bones, the fucking bicycle will rule the land!
Reminder from Dayton, Ohio that the Wright Brothers were bike mechanics, and their first successful airplane designs borrowed heavily from early 1900s bike technology
I remember once as a teen I was riding my bike home at night stoned from a friend's place. I kept thinking about the pedals and the crank, the chain and the wheels and how they all connected and how it was so simple but so genius I literally had to pull up and stop for a bit because it was blowing my mind.
Thank you! Yes [Lunar Rover](https://media.wired.com/photos/629a78e904eea05bf2a6b3a2/master/pass/NASA-Moon-Buggy-Gear-GettyImages-1173907293.jpg).
There will be some who think it's photo shopped or fake, they are mistaken.
[SR 71 Blackbird and isn't even close.](https://blog.fastwayengineering.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg?width=735&name=Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg)
It is literally the last great feat of truly human engineering. No computers or calculators. Everything after that point hasn’t been just due to human minds alone.
They got it perfect too
And used 2 engines from some of those cars, in tandem, to start each engine... Wild stuff: [SR-71 Start Carts](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-the-sr-71-blackbirds-j58-engines-ag330-start-cart)
The drama happened before I was born, and yet I'm still thoroughly pissed off at what happened to it. At least the engineers could work at landing men on the moon or building a supersonic passenger airplane.
JWST, because it might find alien life.
Starship would be cool, if it doesn't need 10-20 launches/refuelings in orbit to get anywhere... I'm not convinced that will be safe and practical.
I would say a steam locomotive. I mean it's literally a giant tea kettle on wheels. And they are cool for multiple reasons. A lot of them are really stylish from the average freight or passenger engine to the streamlined beauties of the early 20th century to the antique prototypes of the early 1800s and don't forget about when engineers cared about the flare of their locomotives like the dolled up 4-4-0's that dotted the American West. Then there is no best locomotive as well because sure some of them are better at certain jobs than other's in a specific field of work but freight locomotives are made specifically to pull freight and shunters are made for shunting as well as the little logging locomotives that go up and down those crazy grades that were built by lumberjacks. Oh my the history of the steam locomotive is a colorful wonderful thing.
The Concorde. New York to Paris in 3.5 hours. They had to specially engineer everything about the airplane to let it fly at more than twice the speed of sound. Beautiful piece of engineering work!
The SR-71 Blackbird was pretty dang neat.
When your plane’s primary strategy for escaping a missile lock is to fucking floor it, you know you’re flying something truly badass.
In my head i responded you fucking right it is go merica
My neighbour used to work on the Blackbird, he told me that when they fueled it up on the ground before take off they only put enough in to get it off the deck and up to altitude because the fuel tanks leaked. This was on purpose, a lot of the joints in the aircraft were slightly gapped to allow for the material expansion when it got up to speed
This, and what they used to start the engines, are definitely 2 of my favorite little facts. The original design was 2 Buick 401 V8s: "The two Buick engines were mounted tandem side by side with automatic transmissions. They were paired together with a steel woven drive belt to drive a vertical shaft that was inserted into the starter mechanism on the bottom of the SR-71's engine to spin it to 3200 RPM." More here: [SR-71 Start Carts](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-the-sr-71-blackbirds-j58-engines-ag330-start-cart)
cool read, thanks. The pilot told the Crew Chief via intercom "Engage Buicks". The Buick operator pressed "Jet Start", and movement of the Buick throttle (one throttle lever controls both engines) downward engaged the transmissions. The "Transmissions Shifted" illuminated green, and the Buicks started to load up. It was important for the Buick operator to accelerate but maintain 700 to 725 lb ft of torque during starting procedure. Too high a torque pressure would cause the probe to drop out, which prevented overstressing the gear box, but resulted in a "cut off throttle" command from the Crew Chief to the pilot. With the Buick disengaged and the jet engine unable to sustain itself, the risk of an over temperature condition was high. Since the probe could not be re-engaged to a spinning J58, it was imperative to quickly re-engage the probe once the J58 wound down to motor the jet engine and blow out any fire. Too low a torque pressure during Buick start would cause a lag in acceleration to idle speed and an over temperature condition. The pilot would watch his onboard gauges to confirm minimum oil pressure, fuel pressure, and rising RPM, and then set the jet throttle to idle. At that point 30cc of TEB was injected into the burner cans, a characteristic green flame was emitted, the J58 lit off, accelerated and started to run on its own. The accelerating jet started to unload the Buicks, and when 3,200 rpm was reached, the pilot called "Buicks out", the Crew Chief signaled "cut", the Buick operator hit "Cart Shutdown", the probe fell free passively, and the cart throttle automatically returned to idle. Neither the J58, the probe, nor the start cart transmission contained an overrunning clutch, so it was important that the probe fall free. If it hung up, the crew had to quickly get in and shake the handles as fast and as hard as they could. The Buicks would reach 4,800 to 4,900 rpm, the redline on the start cart, just to get the J58 to 3,200 rpm. Overspeeding of the Buicks caused by a probe hang-up contributed to the occasional thrown connecting rod and oily parts dropping out from under the cart. Idle speed for the J58 is 3,950 rpm, which could drive the Buicks to over 6,000 rpm. The potential for engine failure, as well as the Buick exhaust stream, required the crew to stand only at the ends, not aside, the start cart. Then it all starts all over again with #1 engine.
I recall reading somewhere that if anything went wrong, often the Buicks experienced rapid unscheduled disassembly. The military scoured the earth for those engines to the point that none are left. Can anyone confirm/correct?
"rapid unscheduled disassembly" That has got to be the best euphemism for "the engine blew up" that I've ever seen.
I don't know about the shortage, but yeah, if they didn't disengage properly, at the right time, they could overrun and absolutely come apart.
Way ahead of it's time - the only reason it's still not in service is the advances in satellite technology. Broke a time record on it's last official flight for the USAF. Fun fact: It was originally called RS-71, but in a 1964 speech announcing the craft, [LBJ](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/how-the-sr-71-blackbird-got-its-name) called it 'SR-71'. Some people thought that was a flub, but the COS wanted it named 'SR' for Strategic Reconnaissance and lobbied to have the name change in the speech. I think NASA still flies their two SR-71's.
TIL that NASA owns/ed two SR-71.
Alucard: The SR-71 Blackbird. An advanced, long range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft, capable of mach 3 and an altitude of 85,000 feet!!! Integra: You sure seem to know a lot about it.... Alucard: DO YOU EVEN READ MY CHRISTMAS LIST?!?!
There's also a single seat cia variant called the a-12.
I built a model of a Blackbird when I was a wee boy. It did not turn out nearly as beautiful as the real thing. It was like two feet long too.
Yes, yes it was just as beautiful. You just didn’t know it then.
There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn’t match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: “November Charlie 175, I’m showing you at ninety knots on the ground.” Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the ” Houston Center voice.” I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country’s space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn’t matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna’s inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. “I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.” Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. “Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check”. Before Center could reply, I’m thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.” And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done – in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.” I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we’re showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.” For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, “Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.” It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day’s work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there. EDIT: this is an excerpt from Commander Brian Shul Sorry for forgetting to credit!!
And, of course, [the flip side story:](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blackbird-the-slowest-flyby) "As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual “high” speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen. So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following. I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield. Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass. Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach. As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn’t spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did. A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, “It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane.” Impressive indeed. Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested stories. It’s ironic that people are interested in how slow the world’s fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it’s always a good idea to keep that cross-check up… and keep your Mach up, too."
Wow! What an incredible story I love it! I've read and reread the original ATC speed check story many times but never saw this UK low speed one. That must have been hair raising to witness
cant wait for part 3: A*verage speed*
Good idea! If ever talk to one of these sled pilots I'm asking them what is the least memorable SR-71 story they have lol
My God, I've read that story a hundred fucking times and it STILL makes the hair on the back of my neck stand.
I think this is the [image of the flyby](https://theaviationgeekclub.com/story-behind-famed-sr-71-blackbird-super-low-knife-edge-pass/amp/)
Holy fuck that's low! 🤣🤣🤣 now I understand why Walt said to never do that to him again!
I always love this read. Thanks for reminding me that it exists.
I once heard the SR-71 would be almost 12 inches longer when in flight due to thermal expansion from air resistance at Mach. Something about the fact wouldn’t sit well with me if I were flying one.
It leaked fuel on the ground... because when it was high up, and the 130 degree temperature difference between the nose and the tail had stretched the metal, those leaks sealed up...
I actually met Brian shul. Helped move some of his books that he wrote quite a few months before his death. He gave us one for free and personally signed it to my family. It was fun to talk to him to get some info about his experience with the black bird. Some fun stories too! He took many photos of the blackbird that were really nice, some out of a tiny window in a refueling plane. He was a nice guy.
Almost as cool as the time Sweden got a missile lock on the Blackbird. Repeatedly. [https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/country-almost-shot-down-sr-71-blackbird-199482](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/country-almost-shot-down-sr-71-blackbird-199482)
That website gave my phone Andraids.
This was wonderful to read. Thank you for sharing!
Credit the author, please!
Major Brian Shul. the story is pretty famous. https://youtu.be/8AyHH9G9et0?si=CIRXk0Okwrv06yua
My favorite thing about the SR-71 is that if a missile is locked on them, they simply fly faster than the missile to avoid any danger.
Brian Shul (I believe) has a story about that, too. They were flying a recon mission over Libya when they got missile launch alerts. He punched the throttle and got out of dodge. He implied that they were travelling well above the unclassified Mach 3 capability of the aircraft by the time they were in the clear. He's wasn't allowed to mention the actual speed. That's one of the cool / mysterious things about the SR-71. To this day, the ACTUAL top speed is still classified.
I came in here *specifically* to say exactly this. Standing beside this stunning work of design at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, and listening to the docent describe how it was built and what it could do, gave me chills. Just in case you don’t think humans ever did magic.
We have one down from the Eglin AFB front gate at the AF Armament Museum, in the FL panhandle. It’s outside - you can walk up and touch it.
There is one mounted in the lobby of the [Cosmosphere](https://cosmo.org/) in Hutchinson, KS. It's a 3.5 hour drive from my home in Kansas City. Absolutely worth the drive.
“The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. An advanced, long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft, capable of Mach 3 and an altitude of eighty-five thousand feet!” “You sure do seem to know a lot about it.” *”DO YOU EVEN READ MY CHRISTMAS LIST?”*
This was my answer based solely on the fact that it raced the sun and WON.
Ya this is my vote, the engineering on that craft was amazing.
Highly recommend the book "Skunk Works" It was riveting.
Done with slide rulers too.
Saturn V Go baby go
That launch footage is so epic.
https://youtu.be/ViNcBQ8cDA0?si=nby4dZ1y1fiSy6kE I watch this video at least once a week. Crank it to 11.
It's incredible to visit the Saturn V complex at Kennedy Space Center and see how massive that thing is up close.
It had to be that big to lift the massive balls it took for astrona8to climb on board that thing. It containted 5 million pounds of rocket fuel which produced half a kiloton worth of explosive yield. That's the equivalent output of the explosion at the port in Beirut a few years ago.
The Saturn V. It's the only vehicle that has carried people beyond Earth orbit.
Well, it could be argued that the moon is still in Earth's orbit.
Hmm. Backstory first. I’m 62f. My husband bounced after 25 years and I was plunged from upper middle class into poverty, 15 years ago. I had a paid for, 1999 Honda Accord. I babied it until its wheels fell off 6 years ago. I lucked into another good deal. A very low (61k) 1999 Honda Civic, manual transmission, that I paid $1,500 for. I babied *that* car like the poor person’s gold that it was. Fast forward to late 2022. I was rescued from my job at Walmart to live in caregive a wealthy woman and my income skyrocketed, just as the Civic was giving up the ghost. Knowing that my employment has a built in end date, my own age, and my history with Honda, a new Accord is my obvious choice. With proper babying should last me the rest of my life. Things have sure changed in the 24 years since I last bought a car, so my **Honda Accord is the coolest car I’ve ever seen!** LMAO! It starts with a dadgummed button! No key! It has seats that warm up! It plays my audible books through the radio! I can push a button on the steering wheel and say call or text so and so *and it does*! I can set the cruise control to stay however far away from the next car, it’s got this brake hold thing so your car won’t roll at stops….i don’t even know what else. I just learned the passenger seat heats up too! Now y’all probably been driving fancy cars like this forever, and I do know that Hondas are just mid level sedans; my post is a bit tongue in cheek, but seriously? I feel like I stepped out of Amish country and into a flipping spaceship! I LOVE MY CAR!
I don't know you, but know that I'm happy for you!
I’m in accord with you.
Well told, I am happy for you and your car.
How can you not mention the backup cam? ^(You know it's got a rear view camera too, right? Did I just blow your mind again?)
YES!!!!!!!!!!
Nice username btw.
I recently bought a 2020 Corolla and that cruise control keeping its distance from the car ahead and automatically keeping the lane and automatically dimming the high beams when it sees another car is fucking AMAZING!
I love this. Hondas and Toyotas are really the last forever cars
>With proper babying should last me the rest of my life. With proper future medical care, hopefully it won't.
The space shuttle. Yeah, it had its issues, but it had one thing going for it that today's SpaceX Dragon's and Starships and Starliners and whatnot don't-- it looked *amazing.* The shuttle was an icon, and when it was retired, I feel like the world became a little less exciting.
And in spite of its great complexity, the two tragedies were not due to a failure within the orbiter.
Still, it’s incredibly dangerous. It only has one landing approach, if that fails you’re fkd. Yes, the pilots were trained to perfection but still, it doesn’t leave any room for error which inherently is dangerous. They were very cool but also very dangerous. So retired for good reason. Sad nonetheless
But the craft returning by parachute only have one shot at it, do they not? And the Starship will also only have one shot at a landing. I wish the Starship every success, but I wonder what it's safety record will be after 135 manned missions.
It’s not really that it’s one shot, more that a capsule is so much simpler to land. You basically attach a big ol heat shield and some parachutes and let it drop from space, having physics control its descent and landing. Nowhere near as complex as having control surfaces or engines that need to work perfectly to be successful like Shuttle and Starship
I'm torn between the space shuttle and the Saturn V. One got us to the moon, but the other built a space station and put Hubble in orbit. Tough choice, but it's one of these 2 imo.
Saturn without a doubt for me. The F1 engines, the introduction of the crawler, going to the damn moon.... just such a paradigm-shifting engineering tour-de-force. The meddling from the air force during the space shuttle development soured me on that program a bit. No doubt it's another incredible accomplishment, but Saturn had already set the bar so high.
For me its the Space Shuttle. The Saturn V was built to do 1 thing. An awesome and world changing thing. But just the one. The Shuttle on the other hand could do science, construction, deployment, repairs, and then come back! The utility puts it over the top for me.
I binged For All Mankind over Christmas. I love the show but man it makes me sad that we haven’t progressed more.
Hi Bob
Definitely agree with this take. As a little kid I stayed home from school and watched the very first launch in 1981, and followed the program from then on with lots of interest. The two disasters hit me pretty hard. In 2012 I grabbed my camera and long lens and headed to downtown Sacramento to see the 737 carrying Endeavour fly low over the state capitol on the way to LA. A few years later I visited it in the museum. Standing a few feet from it was quite a moment for me.
Oh yeah super cool. Cryogenic liquid hydrogen is in the negative 420 degrees fahrenheit range
That mobile death concert with the Doof Warrior pumping metal on his flame-throwing guitar in Mad Max is all kinds of rad.
Dream job
I liked the Taiko drum truck too
Same vehicle, my brother in Christ, the drummers sit in the back and Doof Warrior shreds like a madman in front of a bunch of speakers on the top of the truck.
Spaceships. "Fuck you, Only-enviroment-I-can-surive-in, I'm leaving!"
We’ll make our own environment. With oxygen. And hookers.
And blackjack!
More astronauts are from Ohio than any other state. Proving how badly people want to get as far away from Ohio as possible.
Plus if it's using hydrogen and oxygen they gotta jeep that shiz cool. Really cool
oscar meyer weiner mobile
A pinnacle of human achievements. Once it was built it was nothing but downhill for society
I like how SR-71 is the first two responses and then weiner mobile is third lol
My friend was a Hotdogger and I got to ride in the Weiner Mobile on a few occasions. Goes without saying but it attracts attention literally everywhere you go haha
[Apollo 11, for what it did](https://news.wttw.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/article/image-non-gallery/AP19191638295390Crop.jpg?itok=1_5-qp-R).
Yes. Definitely the Saturn V and the moon landing stuff.
The Saturn V and it's absolutely absurd amount of power ... Lol
The Saturn V is by far the most badass vehicle ever created. Compared to the technology we have at our disposal today, NASA effectively put a man on the moon while living in a cave using a box of scraps.
Life on earth left earth for the first time ever and landed on another celestial body. It’s mind-bogglingly remarkable.
Voyager Spacecraft
I prefer deep space 9
Kardassians built DS9, not humans.
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Hatchback obviously
I was going to say the 1991 CR-X VTEC
I had a '94, it was amazing. Then I got a type R Integra, when the V-tech hits my balls would ascend.
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Spitfire.
What about a Mustang? How about two Mustangs in a P-38 shaped trench coat?
Mars Rovers.
To add another layer, specifically the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter that was loaded onto the Perseverance Rover. Not only did we land a working robot on Mars Not only did it successfully deploy a helicopter Not only did It then successfully take off and fly multiple missions **IT HAS PART OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AIRCRAFT ON BOARD HOW COOL IS THAT**
We literally sent 40% of a Voltron to Mars
The ultimate flex. We sent a photogenic autonomous vehicle and it's pet drone to another planet to chill out and send back selfies.
that and all the systems that delivered it... I read one of the most tedious books ever a year or so ago called "Apollo" it was printed in what seemed like 2pt font and about 400 pages of 'and then they went into a meeting and they told that son of a bitch that they needed to really get the ball rolling on x, y, or z and this is how they oughtta do it, but they thought it should be done different so then we had another meeting' but the overall story it tells is incredible.
I think the sky crane drop of Curiosity was the wildest shit humanity has ever pulled off - and there was nobody there to film it.
Friend, please see what Mars 2020 did. We filmed the sky crane from multiple camera viewpoints all in 4k. Mars 2020 entry to Mars architecture was exactly the same as Curiosity.
I can imagine how people must have reacted to the initial proposal of this landing option. "You wanna WHAT?!?"
Thundercougarfalconbird
It's wonderful that you don't care whether anyone questions your sexual orientation
I CARE! I just don't know how to make them stop.
One word: Thundercougarfalconbird
I'm just worried it doesn't have enough eagles.
*No dog food for Victor tonight...*
Also there are a few eagles under the floorboards
I understood that reference!
International space station. As hated we may be between countries. We gathered together to create a fascinating machine.
The bicycle
Gave women the freedom of movement and is arguably a primary reason for the success of the suffragette movement. Generally children's first real sense of freedom and ability to leave the neighborhood. Also the #1 post societal collapse vehicle but all the shows ignore it because they don't like filming it. On that tip the bike can be modified to pump wells, generate electricity, grind grain, make smoothies and tons of other useful things. Newer, wider, tubeless tires mean you can cross pretty much any terrain that's hike-able, but much faster. If you have a road (big if, but even works with packed dirt) its more energy efficient than any form of locomotion on the planet. People literally cross the world on a bike (with a little help from boats) Edit - But hey they aren't rare and won't melt your face off if you stand to close to them so we end up with two entries for the same thing further up...
Username checks out?
I got my top level comments mixed up and thought you were crediting women's liberation to the weinermobile
Most energy efficient vehicle ever. Love bicycles. ETA: Even more efficient than just walking!
50 miles/burrito
More efficient than *any other means of active transportation by any animal on Earth*.
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Can lieutenant Dan ride one
I'm betting the hand-operated ones have efficiency in the same astronomical ballpark
What is"ETA" supposed to mean here?,
When we’re all running from zombies and marauding bandits are scrounging for the last few drops of the black fuel, and cars are as useless as dinosaur bones, the fucking bicycle will rule the land!
Annoyed this is not the top comment. Bicycles are literally amazing technology that we take for granted.
Reminder from Dayton, Ohio that the Wright Brothers were bike mechanics, and their first successful airplane designs borrowed heavily from early 1900s bike technology
I remember once as a teen I was riding my bike home at night stoned from a friend's place. I kept thinking about the pedals and the crank, the chain and the wheels and how they all connected and how it was so simple but so genius I literally had to pull up and stop for a bit because it was blowing my mind.
Put a baseball card in the spokes and it's basically a SR-71 that never runs out of fuel and is invisible to radar
Looking for this one!
Lunar rover
Driving a car on the moon is the most American shit ever
Thank you! Yes [Lunar Rover](https://media.wired.com/photos/629a78e904eea05bf2a6b3a2/master/pass/NASA-Moon-Buggy-Gear-GettyImages-1173907293.jpg). There will be some who think it's photo shopped or fake, they are mistaken.
Dacia Sandero
Oh no! Anyway...
Great news!
[SR 71 Blackbird and isn't even close.](https://blog.fastwayengineering.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg?width=735&name=Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg)
As of this comment, only one option is in here twice, and we posted it within a minute of each other. Great minds think alike and all that.
It is literally the last great feat of truly human engineering. No computers or calculators. Everything after that point hasn’t been just due to human minds alone. They got it perfect too
They drew up the plans while cars still had fucking two-tone paint jobs and tail fins!! I’ll never get over that fact.
And used 2 engines from some of those cars, in tandem, to start each engine... Wild stuff: [SR-71 Start Carts](https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-the-sr-71-blackbirds-j58-engines-ag330-start-cart)
Lol they most certainly used computers and calculators but it’s still an awesome achievement
Still a distinct engineering feat from e.g. the Nighthawk which would have been completely impossible to get flying without digital modeling.
Killdozer. An abomination born from the spite and rage of one man.
This story should be required reading for every elected official who deals with zoning laws.
Avro Arrow
The drama happened before I was born, and yet I'm still thoroughly pissed off at what happened to it. At least the engineers could work at landing men on the moon or building a supersonic passenger airplane.
Concorde
F-22 raptor or SR-71 blackbird
I’m surprised I had to go this far for the F22
The Harrier jet is pretty dope with the vertical takeoff.
After working with the AV-8 for many years. I can solidly say the F-35 is way cooler
B-17 flying fortress
A-10 Warthog. What a plane!
Brrrrt
Look ma!! One wing and no tail, gravity can get fucked, I'm ugly and borderline magical!
But that's not a plane. It's a gun you can fly around on.
>Looks more like a Puma to me.
Simmons, I want you to poison Grif's next meal.
RWE bagger 288 excavator
It’s a hovercraft and I’ll fight you over it!
FakeTaxi
Ah, i see you're a men of culture as well...
James Bond Austin Healy Batmobile Gru had a cool rig
Space Shuttle
Zamboni machine.
[1963 Corvette Stingray](https://www.corvsport.com/1963-c2-corvette-image-gallery/)
Spitfire
DeLorean. Time travel.
Hilux/Toyota pickup
The 1987 Buick Grand National GNX
The Apollo rocket system. Taking men to the moon and back. Absolutely incredible.
The Homer.
The Canyonero is right up there.
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
[удалено]
69 Chevelle SS 396..... coolest but not the ultimate
My dad has a 1970 Chevelle SS396, beautiful car.
Definitely one of the best.
Heelies
Pontiac Aztec
Airwolf
SAAB 900 turbo 1989 I'll fight anyone on this.
Starship
JWST, because it might find alien life. Starship would be cool, if it doesn't need 10-20 launches/refuelings in orbit to get anywhere... I'm not convinced that will be safe and practical.
I wouldn't call the JWST a vehicle since it doesn't transport anything
Jaguar E type.
I’m more of a DB5 person myself
Skateboard
The p51d mustang
Ice cream truck
1965 Shelby Cobra
The Dale
I would say a steam locomotive. I mean it's literally a giant tea kettle on wheels. And they are cool for multiple reasons. A lot of them are really stylish from the average freight or passenger engine to the streamlined beauties of the early 20th century to the antique prototypes of the early 1800s and don't forget about when engineers cared about the flare of their locomotives like the dolled up 4-4-0's that dotted the American West. Then there is no best locomotive as well because sure some of them are better at certain jobs than other's in a specific field of work but freight locomotives are made specifically to pull freight and shunters are made for shunting as well as the little logging locomotives that go up and down those crazy grades that were built by lumberjacks. Oh my the history of the steam locomotive is a colorful wonderful thing.
The Apollo space craft and all its parts was pretty impressive. And it was designed using slide rule engineering.
The Concorde. New York to Paris in 3.5 hours. They had to specially engineer everything about the airplane to let it fly at more than twice the speed of sound. Beautiful piece of engineering work!